1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card reader provided in, for example, automatic cash depositing and dispensing machines or automated teller machines which read data from and writes data onto a card. The types of machines used with the card reader can read magnetic cards, or credit cards and optical cards such as transformed in cash cards, bank cards, or credit cards, etc. More particularly, the present invention relates to a card reader which can improve the conveying performance of the card at low temperatures.
2. Prior Art Statement
In general, as shown in a flowchart of FIG. 4, a card reader is set to a standby mode when a power source is turned on in step 61. In the standby mode, if the insertion of a card is detected in step 62, a motor is driven in step 63 to convey the card to a card processing position located internally in the ATM. In step 64, data is read out from or written onto the card conveyed to the card processing position. Thereafter, in step 65, the card on the card conveying path is returned by reversely driving the motor. After the card is returned, the motor is stopped in step 66 and the card transaction is finished.
Conveying belts having soft elastic qualities are suitable for conveying the card. The card is conveyed by sandwiching it, as shown in FIG. 5a, between a pair of upper and lower conveying belts 52 and 53 which are reeved around pulleys 51 to face each other.
However, when the card reader is stopped for a long time, for instance, at low temperatures at night, the soft elastic qualities of the conveying belts deteriorates. As a result, the portions of the belts reeved to the pulleys become hard in the curved state along the outer peripheral surfaces of the pulleys. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5b, when the movement of the conveying belts is started, the curved portions 54 of the belts do not completely straighten out into straight lines. The belts are thereby rotated with the slightly expanded curved portions. Thus, the conveying speed of the card which is sandwiched and conveyed between the conveying belts 52 and 53 having the curved portions becomes unstable, causing a defective data processng operation.